


Growing Tulips

by BeautifulSolo



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Kissing, M/M, it's jren but minki kisses almost everyone at some point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 19:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12941802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulSolo/pseuds/BeautifulSolo
Summary: Minki's kissed quite a few boys in his life. He saves the best for last.





	Growing Tulips

One day, a boy in Minki’s kindergarten class - Hwang Minhyun - gave Minki a kiss. Minki cried.

 

Not because Minhyun kissed him. That wasn’t the problem. It had been nice and soft and Minhyun always smelled like strawberries for some reason, which was also nice. The _problem_ was that for Minhyun to have kissed Minki, he had probably mistaken him for a girl. And _that_ was what Minki didn’t like.

 

Minki told Minhyun this during playtime, when the taller boy had found him sulking in the playhouse by himself and furiously rubbing teary eyes. He’d knelt down next to Minki on the dusty floor of the little plastic house, reaching out to Minki only for him to pull away with a grumble.

 

“I’m not a girl.” Minki huffed, folding his arms across his chest. Minhyun copied him, grinning widely.

 

“I never thought you were one.” Was his reply, lisping slightly as Minhyun, much to Minki’s envy, was already losing a few baby teeth. “That’s a secret, though.”

 

Minki continued to pout until Minhyun offered to share his strawberry gummies with him as an apology, but the cheeky smirk on the other boy’s face as he popped a sweet into Minki’s mouth made it obvious that he wasn’t actually sorry at all. Still, Minki agreed to keep his secret, and Minhyun let him eat most of the bag of gummies in exchange. Things were normal, sort of.

 

Minki thought about it every time he had strawberries.

 

**~*~**

 

After Minhyun went to a different elementary school, Minki didn’t think about him very often anymore.

 

That said, the whole _kissing boys_ thing was something he found himself thinking more and more about as he got older. Sometimes Minki wished that Minhyun was still around, so he could talk about it with someone else who _got_ it. At the same time, though, he wasn’t sure if he _should_ talk about it. Not yet.

 

Not until middle school, when Minki got his Very First Actual Real _Boyfriend_.

 

Kang Dongho had plopped into the seat beside Minki’s on the first day of school and immediately struck up a conversation, drawing Minki’s entire life story out of him before first period was over. He was the boisterous type, loud and cheerful and keen to meet new people having grown up in the countryside with more livestock to talk to than other kids.

 

Minki found himself instantly smitten, and the pair became fast friends. Sleepovers, class projects, or just lazily reading comic books on Minki’s bedroom floor after school; they spent practically every second of every day together.

 

So when Dongho rolled over a little closer to Minki one day, nudging Minki’s comic out of the way of his face so he could lean in to press their lips together, it felt like a natural progression from how things had been before.

 

They’d ‘dated’ for a few months, if you could call it that. Things didn’t really change much, and they did everything they did before but with the occasional kiss whenever they were sure they were alone. More stolen glances during classes ( _‘no peeping at each other’s tests!’_ the teachers would scold) more unnecessary contact when Dongho would offer to help Minki with his books. It was nice. It was casual.

 

Very casual. After a while, the kisses tapered off, and while they were as touchy-feely as ever there wasn’t the same kind of hesitance, the pulse-pounding tension they had before.

 

They were sprawled over each other watching cartoons one evening while Minki’s parents were out, when Minki suddenly found himself asking.

“Are we still dating?”

Dongho was quiet for a while.

“Crap. I’d actually forgotten that. Are we?”

Minki just snorted and punched Dongho lightly in the arm. Something nagged at him, like he should be sad but...he wasn’t. He still felt warm and comfortable, flopped half on top of Dongho and watching dumb kids’ shows they would never admit to anyone else that they watched. This was good too. Friends was good too. He told Dongho that.

 

He could practically hear Dongho smiling. “Cool. You want the remote?”

 

Their fingers brushed as he took it - there was no spark, but Minki didn’t miss it.

 

**~*~**

 

All through high school, there was a boy that Minki wanted to kiss. He wanted to kiss him _very very much_. But he didn’t.

 

Now, Minki wasn’t a quitter. He was a go-getter, he pursued what he wanted. But he knew how to pick his battles, and going after Kim Jonghyun didn’t seem like it would end well. Not for Minki.

 

Jonghyun was handsome. He was shy. He liked dorky cartoons and chewed all his pencils and had a funny raspy voice that Minki simultaneously found weird and absolutely swoonworthy. He was almost as bad at art classes as Minki was, and hung back from the crowd in team sports. Minki was in love.

 

But Minki was a _boy_ and well, call it a hunch, but he was pretty sure boys were _not_ high on Jonghyun’s list of interests. He could just feel it. Like he was pretty paranoid that Jonghyun could feel that Minki _was_ interested - he would look at Minki sometimes like he was looking right through him, like he could see something Minki didn’t want him to see.

 

And when Minki would look back, Jonghyun would hurriedly turn away.

 

It was a weird game of cat and mouse that continued the entire three years of high school.

 

“I’m surprised nothing ever happened between you and that Jonghyun guy,” Dongho suddenly announced while the two of them organised Dongho’s belongings, ready for him to move away to college. “I was waiting for you to tell me about it, but nothing sparked. I thought you liked him?”

 

“Dongho!” It took Minki a while to find something suitable to throw at him - eventually settling on a slipper, which Dongho was considerate enough to not even bother to dodge. “I- He- Jonghyun wouldn’t have liked me. He’s not into dudes.”

 

“Oh?” Opening his wardrobe and tossing the entire contents, hangers and all, into a suitcase, Dongho quirked a brow. “What makes you say that?”

 

“He just isn’t! I just _know_ . It’s....” Minki wanted to say _obvious_ , but what ended up coming out was “...complicated.”

 

With a heavy sigh, he set to work removing Dongho’s clothes from the suitcase and inspecting them all. Minki was pretty sure Jonghyun couldn’t like boys because Jonghyun just didn’t...seem like it. He didn’t _look_ like it to Minki. Not when he wore that grubby old hoodie over his uniform every winter, the one with the worn-out elbows. Not when he would chew the cuffs of his uniform sweaters to the point of buying new ones over and over.

 

Minki wasn’t sure how he knew just from that, but he _did_.

 

(All the girls (and Minki) liked him anyway, of course. Especially as he would roll his sleeves back to hide the holes with an awkward little _hehehe_.)

 

“Well, whatever. Maybe you’ll find a hotter guy at college anyway - _I’m_ sure planning to.” He grinned, not even faltering when Minki held up a pair of worn, ripped shorts he found in the suitcase with a confused and slightly horrified expression. “What’s wrong with those? They still fit. And they don’t look that bad.”

 

All of a sudden, Minki wondered if he actually knew anything about Kim Jonghyun after all.

 

**~*~**

 

Minki had a pretty wild birthday party to celebrate finally becoming an adult. A whole ton of his classmates came, mostly from his English seminars. Dongho tagged along, while Hwang Minhyun From Kindergarten had magically resurfaced in the Japanese department of the same university as them (he was still into kissing boys and eating strawberry gummies, apparently. He just had all his teeth now.) and Minki couldn’t exactly leave him out, right?

 

An international student who helped out with the English seminars, Aron, came along too. He was always fun, especially as those of age among the party became increasingly tipsy, excitable, and eager to attempt to speak weird drunken English.

 

Minki learned his limits that night, as did Aron, apparently. There were no photos to haunt them, but the next day Minki had a vague recollection of lips on lips, anyway. The cocoa butter chapstick clued him in on who it was.

 

Sharing embarrassed smiles, Minki offered Aron some painkillers before the seminar started, and asked how to say _‘we don’t have to talk about it’_ in English.

 

**~*~**

 

“You know Minhyun?”

 

 _“You_ know Minhyun?”

 

“Gentlemen, please, you know everybody on campus but each other at this point and that’s great, we love social butterflies in this house. But we have a project to work on. Can we please focus?”

 

Minki wasn’t sure why he’d allowed himself to be roped into Daehwi’s photography project, but he couldn’t exactly say no to the kid. A slightly frantic first year double majoring in both English _and_ Japanese _and_ taking a bunch of additional classes for ‘personal enrichment’, Daehwi was a lovely person when not on the brink of a panic attack.

 

Which was probably why Minki had agreed to do this. Modelling for Daehwi’s project alongside a somewhat haughty-looking Japanese major named Hyunbin. They’d done their makeup - contrasting black and white with pops of red drawing Minki’s attention to the other boy’s lips _far too much_ \- and let Daehwi drag them around as he saw fit for his Artistic Vision.

 

“I guess everybody knows Minhyun.” Minki had spotted a familiar brand of strawberry gummies in Hyunbin’s bag earlier, but didn’t think anything of it until Hyunbin asked Daehwi why he didn’t just get Minhyun to model for him instead. Apparently Minhyun was busy today. So was Dongho. Minki was pretty sure those things were more than a little bit related.

 

“Seems like it. I dated him in high school.” Hyunbin was so nonchalant about it Minki could practically die of envy. He could be brave, too! With a cough, he played it cool.

 

“I win. He kissed me in kindergarten.”

 

Hyunbin started to laugh, ruining Daehwi’s shot.

 

“ _Ughhhhhhhh_ can we _please_ focus?”

 

Hyunbin ignored him. “Nice. Must be something special if he started with you and got hooked on kissing dudes for life.” It was Minki’s turn to laugh, much to the dismay of their harried photographer. “I’d ask to see for myself, but I think Daehwi will kill us if we ruin our makeup.”

 

_“Yes I will!”_

 

(Minki may have indulged him with a peck on the lips after the photoshoot was over, anyway. It was nothing special, though certainly not bad. Daehwi’s distressed squawking made it memorable more than anything else.)

 

Minki and Hyunbin left the art studio as the sun barely clung on to the sky, just for a little longer. Faces scrubbed clean and wearing their own clothes instead of the avant-garde business Daehwi had somehow wangled out of the Drama department for the afternoon, they could relax a little more. Hyunbin showed Minki photos of his pets, of his roommates.

 

A photo of him with Minhyun flashed up, and Minki had to ask.

 

“Why did you break up?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You said you dated him. Why did it end?”

 

“Oh.” Hyunbin shrugged, swiping to a photo of a snake that appeared to be smiling cheerfully. “We just sort of stopped feeling it, I guess? Nothing dramatic, just the spark was gone.”

 

Minki thought back to middle school. He knew that feeling.

 

“Do you...still like him?”  


“We’re still friends.” That wasn’t what Minki was asking.

 

“I mean...high school crushes. They stick with you for a long time, right?”

 

Hyunbin looked puzzled. “Me? I’m over it. Why?”

 

Minki sighed.

  


All through the photoshoot, Daehwi had been fretfully chewing on the cuffs of his sweater, and it made something twinge a little in Minki’s chest.

 

**~*~**

 

“I-”

 

“Ah…”

 

“Jong-”

 

“Mi-”  


“Um.”

 

“Hi.”

 

When Minki agreed to a blind date with Minhyun’s _awkward but really hot I swear_ coworker, he hadn’t expected this. There were no anime buttons on his bag, or holes in his sweater, but Minki knew exactly who he was looking at, anyway.

 

“You, uh. Don’t chew your sleeves anymore.” Minki blurted out before immediately clapping his hands over his mouth. _Shit_.

 

“You noticed that?” Jonghyun fidgeted in his seat, like he couldn’t decide whether he needed to tense up or relax. His sleeves were unchewed, but the way he worried his bottom lip in his teeth anxiously was unmistakable. He laughed nervously when Minki nodded. “I. Uh. Don’t chew pencils anymore either?”

 

Wild.

 

Minki swallowed hard - he had no reason to be nervous. Jonghyun had agreed to go out on a date with a guy, even if he hadn’t known it would be Minki. This was what he’d _wanted_ . Jonghyun had been gay the _whole time_ just...gay and a little dishevelled.

 

Maybe that was the problem. Now that he had a chance, Minki had more to lose.

 

The two of them nursing a coffee each, Minki set about trying to make casual date smalltalk that he hoped didn’t feel like an interrogation - he asked what Jonghyun had been doing since high school (like hell if teenage Minki had the guts to ask him at the time) and what his job was. He asked if he still liked anime. He asked if Jonghyun ever got a dog ( _or any other pet!!_ He hurriedly added, trying not to look like a creeper who knew through the grapevine since their schooldays that the other boy _adored_ dogs.)

 

He found himself blabbing more and more as Jonghyun grew silent and Minki began to panic. Was Jonghyun bored? Uncomfortable? He was staring, and chewing a little on his lip again, just like he’d gnaw on his sweater back at school.

 

“Um-”

 

“Minki, you’re really pretty.”

 

They both blinked in surprise, like Jonghyun hadn’t expected the words to leave his own mouth.

 

“Thank you?”

 

“I mean. I’ve. Been wanting to tell you that since we were like fifteen. I thought I should say it since we’re, you know, on a date and all.” He laughed quietly. That precious little _hehehe_ that melted Minki’s heart on the spot.

 

Quiet.

 

They _were_ on a date, weren’t they? Wow.

 

“I liked you in high school.” Minki mumbled behind his coffee. Jonghyun watched him, a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

 

“Liked?”

 

“Well. Yeah. High school me liked high school you.” He took a sip of his drink, trying not to smile too much. “And I mean, you’re handsome. And cute. And don’t chew your sweaters anymore. So you could say I’m still kinda feeling it.”

 

Jonghyun looked like he was about to burst, but closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath. Minki could relate - damn being an adult, and having to be lowkey and go on coffee dates and make smalltalk. He’d waited a long time for this.

 

“I’m glad.”

 

Minki was filled with the overwhelming urge to...do something. Anything. Hold hands or something gross.

 

“Want to go for a walk after this?” _Lowkey_ . _Casual grownup date. Not embarrassing high schoolers anymore_. “There’s a park nearby. Might be nice.”

 

Jonghyun had to take another breath before answering, a simple _“yeah_ ”. But Minki understood.

 

Casual, lowkey adulthood _sucked_ , but at least they could suffer the song and dance together.

  


And they did. Fumbling for each other’s hands as they walked through the park and trying to make it look like they hadn’t been planning the best time to do so since before they even made it through the gates. Minki somehow managed to set Jonghyun’s watch alarm off in their first attempt, but when the beeping was finally silenced, they were rewarded with the warmth of their palms pressed together. Minki was living.

 

Honestly, Minki had wondered what the rules were for kissing on dates. Could you kiss on a _first_ date? He hated this. Apparently Jonghyun did too, as any concern for the ‘rules’ went straight out of the window when they paused to look at a Very Interesting Bee perched on a rosebush. Minki had opened his mouth to make some comment he didn’t even remember, something about the bee, probably, but before he knew it his lips were pressed against Jonghyun’s and the bee, the rosebush, and the damn rules were forgotten entirely.

 

It wasn’t strawberries or comic books or cocoa butter or red lipstick, but it _was_ perfect.

 

“Sorry?” Jonghyun’s cheeks were flushed when he pulled away. “I didn’t-”

 

“Don’t you _dare_ apologise for that.” He tried to sound firm, but he was beaming. He could feel it. His cheeks were starting to hurt. Minki was so weak. “Don’t you dare.”

 

Jonghyun was still bright pink. “I’m not...used to this stuff.”

 

“I’ll help you,” it was cliche as shit but Minki didn’t care. He’d waited a long time for this moment and he was going to enjoy it. “You can count on me to teach you right.” He winked.

 

 _Hehehe_.

 

Minki was so in love.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what this was meant to be I'm so sorry


End file.
